Our Caving Trip PDF Print E-mail
Written by Aileen Pienaar and Tim Hartwright   
Monday, 05 July 2010 22:06


I have often wondered why man has a fascination for getting him/herself into tight and sometimes dangerous corners and then have the nerve to label it sport! Rock climbing, abseiling and caving all entail plenty of the above plus a lot of dirt and discomfort. For instance, what would drag a bunch of city dwellers out of their cozy beds on a Sunday morning to drive to Krugersdorp, don overalls and miners helmet and abseil down into a hole in the ground? Anyway, I very soon found out!

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caving002		 We joined a party from Wild Cave Adventures for the morning. The instructions given were to come along in old T-shirt, jeans and takkies. Neil, our guide (and the owner of Wild Cave Adventures) met us at a garage and escorted us to the cave that we were going to explore. Once close to the mouth of the cave, he grouped us together and dished out overalls and equipment to us. The equipment consisted of helmets with lights and battery packs and an abseil harness. As the group were all new to abseiling, Neil went through the basic rules for putting on a harness and adjusting it.
Once he was satisfied with what he saw, he took us over to the entrance of the cave and we all stared down into THE ABYSS, a black hole that seemed to have no bottom! After Neil gave us basic instructions on abseiling and very confidently reassured us that he could hold us with two fingers, we very nervously put our lights on and allowed ourselves to be lowered down into what might as well have been oblivion. At the bottom we looked back at the hole in the roof as one by one our fellow cavers descended. Last to descend was Neil himself.

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cavingpg03		 For the next two hours we clambered up and down, through tight spots and large chambers and witnessed some of the amazing aspects of the subterranean world. Bats ‘dive bombed’ us and our guide showed us, in the obvious enthusiasm of someone who is devoted, to the world beneath our feet. ‘Pearls’ at our feet and ‘Pipes’ from overhead are all part of this strange world that we witnessed.
Along the way we learnt what different types of cave formations are called and how they are formed. We learnt about pearls, about rafts and curtains. Not forgetting about troglobites, troglophiles and trogloxenes, as well as the incidentals. We learnt about how life above ground can effect what goes on in caves, about what happens in rainy seasons and drought. So, not only being an adventure it was also an educational experience.
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cavingpg09		 Who would have thought that caving could be so much fun..................and educational. Suffering from claustrophobia you might have a bad moment or two but you are kept so busy looking and learning that you don't really have time to think about it. And about the time you do start panicking you are already on your way out. So.....why don't you give caving a chance. When will you ever get the chance to be that close to a 'pearl' without having to dive for it?
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I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move.

Robert Louis Stevenson
1850-1895, Scottish Essayist, Poet, Novelist
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Our Caving Trip



Caving, Abseiling, Krugersdorp, Explore, Subterranean, bats, pearls, pipes, formations, rafts, curtains, drought, educational, experience, claustropobia


Caving, Abseiling, Krugersdorp, Explore, Subterranean, bats, pearls, pipes, formations, rafts, curtains, drought, educational, experience, claustropobia